Zach Eflin Injury: Recovery to take 4-to-8 months

Eflin will undergo back surgery Monday and is expected to be sidelined 4-to-8 months, Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun reports.

Eflin had already been ruled out for the season after it was revealed he would need lumbar microdiscectomy surgery, and now there's a firmer timetable for the right-hander's recovery. The 31-year-old is hopeful the operation will allow him to put his nagging back issues -- which he revealed Wednesday have been a problem off and on for the past 5-to-6 years -- behind him, per Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. An impending free agent, Eflin hopes to be ready for the start of spring training, but it's not a given.